Barely two weeks after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) announced an elaborate schedule for organisational polls, a former Youth Congress leader moved the Delhi High Court to direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to regulate the internal polls of all political parties.
And on Thursday, the court issued a notice to the ECI after hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) plea of C Rajashekharan, a former general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC).
The petitioner, who is now a senior advocate, argued that most internal polls were an “eyewash” and most parties had a “feudal” character.
“It is submitted that although most political parties provide for elections through the provisions, said elections are often an eyewash for established political families within the said parties to continue to retain power as the top leadership of said party ....The continued sidelining of the political process has been made possible on account of the lack of regulatory oversight and uniform norms of internal democracy applied to political parties,” the plea contended.
Speaking to The Hindu, the petitioner insisted that his PIL was not aimed at a particular party, especially the Congress.
G-23 reformists’ plea
Asked to comment about his plea coinciding with the demand for transparent internal polls by the Congress’s group of 23 reformists (G-23), he stressed, “I have raised the issue of internal democracy and transparent organisational polls much before G-23”.
Mr. Rajashekharan, who had worked with G-23 leaders like Manish Tewari in the Youth Congress, said, “This is my second PIL, as I am determined to bring the second wave of democratic reforms”.
“I am no longer associated with any party but I want to clean up the system. Only courts can do that and ensure internal democracy in political parties. I am not a Communist but I must admit that only Left parties hold their intra-party elections in a democratic manner,” he stated.
Mr. Rajashekharan, who shuttles between Chennai and Delhi, observed that the trigger for filing the PIL was the ‘rush’ among people to register political parties and resort to crowd-sourcing.
“The rules to register a political party are fairly strict but once the registration is done, there are enough provisions in the rules that be used as loopholes,” noted Mr. Rajashekharan, who was also associated with a couple of regional parties in Tamil Nadu.
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